Yahoo debuts new video app to help cord cutters

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Yahoo’s original programming ambitions may have failed to the tune of a $42 million write-down, but that doesn’t mean it’s not still optimistic about online video. Today, the struggling tech giant announced the new Yahoo Video Guide app, designed to help consumers navigate the ever-expanding digital video landscape with a swipe.

The new app is aimed at cord-cutters who might be struggling with myriad streaming options in what is being called the Peak TV era. The app aggregates data from HBO, Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu, allowing users to search and view content from all of those services in one location with a simple tap of the screen. The Yahoo Video Guide will also tackle the problem of new content discovery with a GIF-based recommendation algorithm that selects new content to match users’ moods.

Yahoo

The app tackles the very real problem of content discovery and user management in a world where streaming options have exploded. With a huge amount of content distributed across multiple platforms and an increasingly heated series of licensing battles, popular shows are rapidly changing hands. Yahoo is betting that even a tech-savvy cord-cutting audience needs help to manage their viewing priorities. Bringing the app to a mobile setting is likely to heighten its millennial appeal.

Ironically, such a tool would have been a boon to Yahoo’s benighted video efforts. Many users pronounced Yahoo’s video interface difficult to navigate, making it hard to find expensive shows such as Community or discover its high-quality originals, including Paul Feig’s Other Space.